Lecture 9.pdf

Course: Poli Sci 2H03
Subject: Global/Local
Instructor: Dr. Vermilyea
Section: Evening, T01
Date: Nov. 6, 2012
Key problems
 The way cities are portrayed in globalization is in opposition to globalization
 Seem to be local entities, whereas globalization is a global/fluid/dynamic entity
 Portrayal of cities and cultures
 Local cultures as helpless victims of global forces
 Cities are victims of Westernization or as creatures of the state
 No power outside of what state gives them
 Presented as locally-bound entities within the state
Global city literature
 Idea that cities are key point in world economy
 Cities like NY, London, Tokyo
 Tendency in literature is to localize the various processes within the boundaries of the city
 Cities positioned as competitive sites for an agglomeration for competitive processes
 Kind of like a state trying to gain a lead in the global economy
 Cities are operating through economic relations that transcend through different spatial scales
 "Global Cities: Ney York, London, Tokyo"
 Key structures of global economies are positioned in cities
 Let firms operate closely, create networks that make cities key sites for world economy
 Focusing on cities rather than relations that go on between them
 We miss how what is occurring in one city may not be happening in another
 Cities need to be thought of, not as islands of competitiveness, but as network sites for relations
that extend beyond the boundaries of the city itself
 Nonsensical to talk about the economy of one particular city when these things can stretch beyond
that
 Makes more sense to talk about various transnational firms that operate through cities
Positioning of local in opposition to global
 When we think about local culture, we think about a romanticized individuals
 Place-based identities
 Portrayed in opposition to uncontrollable global flows which threaten these local cultures
 Local is privileged because the argument is that it needs to be defended
 At the same time, it is marginalized because these statements insinuate that the local has
nothing to do with the processes of globalization
 Castells and Tomlinson discuss this in the readings
 Capital (financial flows) threaten this one stable cultural space of community-based spatial
organization
 Capital/finance occupies a superior command over resources
 Local cultures seen as cultural totalities
 Their culture somehow froze in a certain time period
 e.g., Indigenous communities
 Takes away agency and role of people in the grand narrative which is nostalgic and
romanticizes cultures Course: Poli Sci 2H03
Subject: Global/Local
Instructor: Dr. Vermilyea
Section: Evening, T01
Date: Nov. 6, 2012
 Strict dualism between globalization and the space of economic flows and culture/community
 Doesn't make sense to talk about distinct spatial scales in that sense
 The very nature of these global movements make the idea of the local in opposition to the global as
problematic
 The city is a key part of globalization
 Cities are shaped through globalization